Thank God For My Maintenance Contracts (Potterton Envoy Condensing Boiler)

Member Name: Nibelung

Product:	Potterton Envoy Condensing Boiler
Date:	22/01/01 (5012 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Considerable fuel savings.

Disadvantages: Not being able to use it also saves gas!!

I have had my Potterton Envoy for about 18 months, since being fitted by, and now maintained by British Gas. Until very recently, it has performed flawlessly, delivering the 30% saving in gas as promised.

However, just before Christmas, it refused to light. A change of igniter solved the problem for about a week - the cause of the igniter failing wasn't discovered until it failed again the week after - the combustion chamber was full of water. This was put down to heavy rain beating on the side of the house whilst we were away in Canada, drained off, dried out and re-ignited. This lasted a day or so, before failing again. On closer inspection, the main heat exchange was leaking, having a split/hole in the aluminium casting - there's nothing like a couple of pints of water to make something difficult to light! They tell you to expect more steam, but not this much! The heat exchange, which forms the guts of any boiler, and more so in a condensing model was changed for a new one.

We still have one minor fault, a drip of condensate probably caused by the sealing gaskets all being shagged out, having been on and off the thing so many times! I await the repair with interest.

One good piece of news amongst all this - because of my 3 Star Contract with BG, I am only paying £11/month to get what in effect is my boiler rebuilt! Not bad value when you see the price of a heat exchanger.

This hasn't put me off the principle of condensing boilers, just this one! It also encourages me to persevere with maintenance contracts, especially if something is newer technology.

Summary: